Visiting Nagano’s Bobsleigh Track, the “Spiral”

The “Spiral”, located at the foot of Izuna Mountain above central Nagano City, was the venue for the ’98 Nagano Winter Olympics bobsleigh and luge events. This bobsleigh/luge/skeleton dedicated track is the first artificially cooled course in Asia. The venue is open for visiting for free, and several times during the year visitors are given the chance to actually ride down the course.

Bobsleigh/luge/skeleton track, the "Spiral"

On January 13th, I took our kids to check out Spiral. We happened to time it while the Challenge Cup bobsleigh competition was taking place. It’s one thing to watch the sliding on TV, it’s an entirely different thing to feel the sled whizz right by in front of your face. Intense!

Bobsleigh careening by at 125km/h

Bobsleigh / Luge / Skeleton sledding trial dates for the rest of the 2013 season are as follows:

sir.
i am from india and i want to join a luge game for my nation. but i know their is only single track in asia NAGANO JAPAN.please do you tell me what is the procedure and how many money will spend for practicing in nagano.

Shubham-san, Thank you for your inquiry. I think Nagano would be honored to have you come and train for luge at the Spiral track. I called and left a message for my buddy Koshi-san who works with the Japanese Olympic luge/skeleton/bobsleigh team. I’ll put him in contact with you. I hope it works out!

Thank you for your comment to the go-nagano.net blog. I received a response from Mr. Kazuhiro Koshi of the Skeleton Club connected with the Spiral track. He suggested contacting the Japan Boblseigh Luge Skeleton Federation at http://www.jplsf.jp or the Nagano Bobsleigh Luge Skeleton Federation at http://www.nagano-blsf.com. Send them your request in simple English and they should respond. Other Luge athletes have apparently trained / competed at the Spiral before.

Hey Tyler, I’m a streetluger here in Aus. Heading to Japan for skiing Feb 2015. Girlfriend is allowing me to organise trip around a visit to the spiral 🙂 wondering if you know public ride dates for 2014-15 winter. Cheers mate.

Tyler, Thanks for the post. I am really keen to go and check out the Spiral course this winter.
Do you know the dates when the course is open to the public.
Any info would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Edgar

Helmut-san,
Thank you for your message regarding luge. The organization in charge of The Spiral is the Nagano Bobsleigh , Luge & Skeleton Federation, http://www.nagano-blsf.com/. The website has an inquiry (お問い合わせ）page. Perhaps you can contact them to find out if they can help you.
Good Luck!

I have a few friends visiting Nagano in January 2019 and we would like to enjoy a run down the spiral in a bob with a guide/driver. We did this in Lillehammer last year.
Can you please direct me to who or where I can make this arrangement (in English please)

Ian-san, Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, bad news: I just called the bobsleigh park and confirmed no ice this season, and none for the forseeable future. Apparently the Spiral’s last season as a bobsleigh course was the 2017/18 winter. Nagano does boast lots of world-class ski resorts, so perhaps you could take your friends skiing instead. Or snowshoeing — my favorite.
-Tyler

George-san, Thank you for your interest in the “Spiral”. It is unfortunate that Nagano City decided to no longer maintain the track. Fastest speeds from recent competitions can be seen on the official website, http://www.nagano-blsf.com/index.html. You can try contacting the Nagano Boblsleigh, Luge & Skeleton Federation for more specific info if you need. I hope that helps!